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036 The Flight into Egypt - A Bible Story for Children
MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Sunday March 14, 2010
Matthew 2:1-23
Herod, the king of Judea, also heard about the baby, and he was not pleased. One day some wise men from the east came to his palace in Jerusalem. "Where is the baby who has just been born and who will be king of the Jews?" they asked Herod. "We have seen his star in the east, and have come to visit and praise him."
Herod pretended to be as excited as the wise men. "Go to Bethlehem, and when you have found the child, bring me word of him," he told them. "I would also like to go and see this wonderful baby."
The wise men set out from Jerusalem. They followed the star from the east, which traveled across the sky to lead them. Then in Bethlehem, it stopped. The wise men went to the place under the star. There they found the baby with Mary, and fell to their knees to worship him and present him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
After visiting the baby, the wise men were warned, in a dream, not to go back to Herod, and so they returned to their own country a different way. Joseph also had a dream. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to take Mary and the baby and flee with them into Egypt. "Stay there until I bring you word," the angel said. "Herod will try to find the child and destroy him." By nightfall, Joseph was on his way to Egypt with Mary and the baby.
When the wise men did not come back to Jerusalem, Herod realized that they had tricked him. His fury was terrible. He called in his soldiers and gave them orders to kill every child, two years old and under, in Bethlehem and the surrounding country. Jesus was safe in Egypt, but hundreds of children were slain.
Some years later, when Herod himself died, the angel appeared once more in a dream to Joseph. "Arise," he said, "and take the child and his mother home. The king who wanted to kill the baby is dead."
But Joseph was afraid to go back to Judea, so he took Mary and the child to nearby Galilee, to the town of Nazareth. There, Jesus grew up.
